“Bonds is on 69. and there’s a long fly ball.Big Mac, you’ve got company at 70!”
“And there’s a shot to deep right field.welcome to the history books Barry, you’re the home run king!”
The calls went something like that. We’ve all heard them and we’ve all seen Barry Bonds’ historic home runs. He capped off his amazing season on Sunday with his 73rd dinger of the season. It was a great cap to what many fans and experts are calling one of baseball’s best seasons. Cal Ripken, Jr. had a fitting sendoff on Saturday night against Boston, and Tony Gwynn left baseball on Sunday in the same game that Rickey Henderson etched his name into yet another section of the record books with his 3,000th hit. The Seattle Mariners tied the Chicago Cubs’ 95-year-old record for most wins with 116, and the Cardinals and Astros came down to one final game to determine the NL Central.
The weekend was amazing for any baseball fan until early evening on Sunday.
I had just finished watching the St. Louis-Houston game when I opened up ESPN.com to check out some NFL scores, only to stumble across something that made me mad. The lead story was Bonds ending the season with yet another homer, and the story had a picture of him rounding the bases. The caption read something like this: “Will this be Bonds’ last trip around Pac Bell for the Giants?”
As part of the media, I understand that we are supposed to raise interest and awareness, but this was downright stupid. The man just finished one of the top five seasons of all time. You’ve heard the numbers: .328 batting average, 73 home runs (new record), 137 RBI, 177 walks (new record), .863 slugging percentage (new record), .515 on base percentage (first .500+ OBP since Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle in 1957), 1.379 combined slugging and OBP (ties old record set by some guy named Babe Ruth in 1920), and 107 extra base hits (tied for NL record with Chuck Klein in 1930). You get my drift. Bonds had the most ridiculous year that we have seen in our lifetimes. The year he had ranks up there with the likes of the Babe, and this caption was about how he may test the waters of the free agent market.
Honestly, who really cares? The media places these stories in the minds of many fans, and it’s too bad that so many are influenced by this. The caption should have read, “Bonds caps off best season since Ruth with 73rd home run,” or “Bonds sets or ties five records in historic season.” Too many times players finish off great seasons only to have to answer to questions about next year. Why concentrate on something negative like his possible departure from San Francisco instead of the amazing season that he had? It’s not like he had a “good” or “great” season and we should talk about how in the contract years, many players perform above their normal level in order to get a fat paycheck next season. We’re talking about one of the best seasons ever.
Along these same lines, I think the media is to be blamed for the lack of support for Bonds throughout his quest. Instead, we got all the negativity about how he’s never been nice to reporters or very friendly during interviews. The man has a wife and children that he wants to get home to after every game, and I certainly can’t blame him for making that more important than Joe Schmo reporter who wants to ask him questions about how much money he will demand next season.
Personally, I was rooting for him to break Mac’s record. Not only did he hit a ton of home runs, but as shown above, he had an all-around amazing year. Not a single weakness in his game. For a man with those numbers, he didn’t even rank in the top 40 in strikeouts with only 93 (sorry Sammy). But in the end, the coverage on television and the hoopla surrounding his chase was not even close to Big Mac. Granted, Big Mac was breaking an old record, while Bonds only broke a three-year-old record. However, this wasn’t solely about his home run record, but about a historic season that puts Bonds’ name in with the all-time greats in this game. I’m talking Ruth, Mantle, Williams, and Mays.
So if you didn’t pay attention or you’re one of those wondering about Bonds next year, shame on you. Appreciate what he has done and not what he may or may not do. It’s his decision, and it’s not the media’s jobs or the fans jobs to start rumors or attention to something that we know absolutely nothing about. All we do know is right now. Bonds is on top of the baseball throne. He was, is, and will remain a baseball great. Appreciate him, please.

Email Dr. Z at [email protected]

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